Back to the Future Star Michael J. Fox Names the One Time Travel Book You Need to Read
Back to the Future icon Michael J. Fox just named his top time-travel book, and the author of five memoirs dives into the reads that shaped him in a candid new interview.
Michael J. Fox, the guy who turned a DeLorean into a lifestyle, just named his favorite time-travel book. He did it in an email Q&A with the New York Times, and along the way he talked about what he reads, what actually moves him on the page, and why he still loves revisiting his Back to the Future era.
The pick: Fox’s favorite time-travel read
After reflecting on why he liked revisiting his Back to the Future days, Fox was asked to name the time-travel novel that stands above the rest. He went straight to Jack Finney, singling out Finney’s cult classic for its wonderfully analog twist on the genre.
"I have to point to Jack Finney's books, especially 'Time and Again,' in which the low-tech Dakota-building-as-time-machine device is particularly genius."
It’s a charmingly old-school choice for a guy forever linked to the souped-up, sci-fi version of time hopping.
What Fox reads and why
Fox says he was obsessed with Agatha Christie as a pre-teen, then graduated into noir as he got older. The most recent book that really landed for him was Amor Towles’s A Gentleman in Moscow.
As for what keeps him turning pages, he’s pretty clear: he prefers writers who go for the heart over the head. If an author is aiming squarely at his brain, he admits they can lose him in the weeds; when a book leads with feeling, it tends to hit the mark and sneak up on him in a way that sticks.
Where Fox is now
Fox retired from acting in 2020. Since his 1991 Parkinson’s diagnosis, he’s been less active onscreen, but he’s been busy on the page: he’s written five memoirs, including this year’s Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. He’s not completely off the call sheet, either — he recently popped up in Zootopia 2 with a voice role.